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Deficit scolds take heed (Graphs)

The consensus from my state-based (Indiana) Republican elected officials on last night’s SOTU can be summed up as thus:

“Instead of heeding some common sense from the heartland, we are about to witness a second term the same as the first — a president who is not serious about deficit and debt reduction and would rather prop himself up with rhetorical gimmicks,” Holcomb said.

“By ignoring the record debt amassed on his watch and simple math, President Obama is making it clear he has no intention but to perpetuate our spending problem in Washington.”

I’m sure this tracks other along the same line as other GOP sentiments. I’m also guessing they probably haven’t seen this graph:

“Here’s a pretty important fact that virtually everyone in Washington seems oblivious to: The federal deficit has never fallen as fast as it’s falling now without a coincident recession,”

It’s one thing to assert that the deficit reduction we’ve accomplished is not enough, quite another to pretend that said accomplishment (and the president’s desire to do more) isn’t ‘serious’ — at least in any objective, historical, sense.

Bonus Graph — The spending effect on the economy since the recovery began. In the last eight quarters of the recovery discretionary (i.e., not automatic) spending has actually been a drag on GDP growth: